One of the key aspects of any successful business is its ability to listen to its customers. Such is the case at Noble Street Studios, Toronto’s newest premiere downtown recording studio.

The studio recently added an SF-24V vacuum tube stereo ribbon microphone and two R-122 active ribbon microphones from http://www.royerlabs.com” title=“Royer Labs”>Royer Labs to their microphone locker – at the request of numerous clients.

Donny Da Silva, Studio Manager at Noble Street Studios is actively engaged in equipment procurement. With 8,000 square feet that encompasses two studios, there’s a lot to keep track of—particularly when it comes to making certain the clients have access to the specific equipment they’ve requested.

“In recent months, Noble Street Studios has handled multiple album projects as well as having recorded the orchestral soundtrack for the new four-part TV miniseries Titanic on the Global network,” Da Silva explained. “For these and other projects, it was critical to have the best microphones and, in all cases, we were getting requests for Royer Labs. We already had a pair of R-121 studio ribbon mics, and the addition of the SF-24V and the R-122’s really helped solidify our ability to meet the requests we received.”

According to Da Silva, the combination of the SF-24V, R-121’s and R-122’s is really making a significant impact at Noble Street Studios.

“We’ve been using the SF-24V for room sound, or ambiance,” Da Silva said, “as well as for piano and drum overheads. This mic is very quiet and does a phenomenal job of delivering the level we want without inducing any noise. We’ve also used the mic over string sections. In all cases, I’m getting glowing reports on the warmth and fullness this microphone brings to the recordings.”

Da Silva was equally enthusiastic about both the R-121’s and R-122’s. “I regularly hear our engineers and the musicians talk about the incredibly high SPL capabilities of the R-121 and R-122. Both mic models are routinely used on guitar cabinets. I received a report recently that, in a recent session, one of the guitar cabinets had eight 12-inch loudspeakers. The R-122 that was used to capture the sound performed incredibly well and delivered the even, full-bodied sound everyone was expecting to hear. A lot of microphones simply wouldn’t be able to handle that much volume, but the R-122’s and, for that matter, the R-121’s, do this without the slightest hiccup. We’ve also used the R-122 on piano and the mic has worked really well.”

When asked about customer service, Da Silva said that while ribbon mics may have a reputation for being fragile, this is not the case with Royer ribbons. “We certainly don’t beat them up,” he said, “but with careful handling, we have yet to encounter any issues whatsoever. Our Royer mics are very robust. While we haven’t had any reason to contact support, I’m confident our dealer, HHB Canada, and Royer would have our back if we needed assistance.”

Before re-focusing on the day’s business, Da Silva offered this final thought, “We put our Royer mics up for just about every client who records guitar or piano. They are requested all the time. Royer Labs has a well-deserved reputation for quality sound and our experience certainly confirms that. These mics are great sounding workhorses that really deliver what the customer wants.”